Revere couple charged with human trafficking

BOSTON — A joint investigation by local police, state prosecutors and federal agents has yielded three arrests on human trafficking charges.

Search warrants were executed Thursday afternoon on Putnam Street in East Boston and Bradstreet Avenue in Revere, according to an announcement by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, Boston, Revere and Woburn police departments, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Boston.

Arrested on charges of trafficking in persons for sexual servitude were: Cesar Aldana-Carranza, 48, of Revere; his wife, Elda Munoz, 42, of Revere; and his sister, Nabia Enamorado, 50, of East Boston.

Only Enamorado was arraigned on Thursday. East Boston Municipal Court Judge John McDonald imposed $5,000 cash bail and ordered her to surrender her passport and wear a GPS monitor if she posts bail, according to the Suffolk County DA’s office.

She will return to court on June 28. Aldana-Carranza and Munoz are expected to be arraigned on Friday.

“Human trafficking is human exploitation for profit,” District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. “Pimps and traffickers cash in on it, sex buyers contribute to it, and victims suffer because of it. Our goal is to build strong cases against perpetrators and deliver support and services to survivors. Suffolk prosecutors work with a broad array of law enforcement agencies and social service providers in this important work, and we’re grateful for their partnership.”

Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said human trafficking is not a victimless crime.

“The exploitation of women for profit is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in my city,” Evans said in a statement. “I commend the efforts of my detectives and all who worked to identify and apprehend these suspects.”

The arrests were based on evidence developed in multiple joint surveillance operations, the analysis of phone records obtained pursuant to a search warrant, detectives’ detailed observations on web-based prostitution platforms, and plainclothes operations in which “dates” were arranged through those websites and subsequently called off, according to the DA’s office.

The investigation arose out of a Woburn narcotics investigation during which a cell phone was seized, examined, and found to contain text message exchanges that strongly suggested commercial sexual exploitation, prosecutors said.

Human trafficking, upon conviction, is punishable by up to 20 years in state prison.